NEW YORK — When Jeremy Renner became the “Mayor of Kingstown” he had no expectations that five years and four seasons later Mike McLusky would still be a kingpin in a fictional Michigan city whose business, with multiple prisons, is incarceration.

As this new season of “Mayor” begins Sunday night on Paramount+ Renner, 54, laughed at the idea that in 2021 he could have predicted that this Taylor Sheridan series would score the way it has.

“It was Taylor,” he recalled in an interview at Soho’s Crosby Street Hotel. “I signed on to do the show without reading a word of it. I just liked the idea of it and it was, like, I’m gonna do this thing. I love the idea, I’m in. Let’s do it!

“But also, I warned Taylor, I don’t know about long-form storytelling. I don’t want to be trapped for who knows how many years. You know, that sort of thing.

“So, maybe we said, ‘Look, maybe we could just say we can’t, probably, get you out after first season, second season. We don’t know.

“So I didn’t worry about what the future held. I just trusted — sort of — the process. And like, here we are.

“And it couldn’t be more exciting as we’re continuing on. I love it! I can’t wait to do more.”

As to how has McLusky progressed as “Mayor” of Kingstown County, “I think there’s a lot of suffering through that’s gone on. Lots of losses, you know?”

“Mayor” is definitely violent, sometimes shockingly so. Mike McLusky may be top dog but power can only be maintained by continuing to instill fear in his enemies.  And for this season there is a formidable opponent in Edie Falco’s newly installed prison warden Nina Hobbs.

Mike, beginning in Sunday’s first episode, must confront the limitations of his power when his younger brother Kyle (Taylor Handley) is imprisoned.

“Yes,” Renner agreed, “he feels his greatest weakness is just not being able to protect his brother who’s a cop and is incarcerated. He’s used to having headwinds at every turn, but the stakes are so high knowing what can happen to a policeman in prison.

“So having someone like that inside and just really shut down in prison is harrowing.”

As for the consequences now that Mike can’t take care of his family?

“The most important factor is their health and wellbeing. His only love right now is his brother, although obviously he has other people that he cares for.

“But his brother he really needs to protect. And that need is pretty desperate. And in his desperation he comes with almost pleas to the warden.

“It’s a very, very vulnerable place for him to be. It’s not normal for Mike to be in that position.”

Which means: Stay tuned, deeds have consequences!

Jeremy Renner and Edie Falco in a scene from the new season of “Mayor of Kingstown.” (Photo courtesy Paramount+)